My Alter Ego’s Path to Greatness - Chapter 200

#200

2nd Continental Summit (1)

“It’s been a while, saint. “But it’s a great honor for me to personally welcome you like this, isn’t it?”

“Hehehe what? “This is nothing compared to the hard work you have put in outside.”

Saint Riesta, who responded with a similar smile to Heinrich’s words with a sheepish smile, soon turned her head to the other party members and continued speaking in a soft voice.

“Thank you all for your hard work. I’ve always heard about your success so far, but I feel reassured to see that everyone is doing well. In particular, I heard that something big happened not long ago…”

It was referring to the fight with the White Giant that took place in Geos’ hometown.

As the moment he emerged from the scars of the abyss was captured, the church had no choice but to react sensitively to him.

“I definitely had a hard time back then. Unlike before, I couldn’t figure out the omen in advance, perhaps because it was a monster that crossed the abyss directly. “This is probably all because I am still lacking a lot.”

“Isn’t it natural that it would be difficult for a human body to understand all of the Lord’s will? Still, I believe that the fact that the Holy Son was there at the right time was guidance from the Lord.”

One of the giants that has appeared so far was killed after causing enormous damage to the imperial army, and the other appeared in the Principality of Rohan, encountered the elites of the main church, and was driven out to the northern mountains.

However, there is no way that such a monster could be stopped in the baronial territory of the Kingdom of Lesque, whose national power is much weaker than that of the empire.

If the hero’s party hadn’t been there, I couldn’t even imagine what kind of monster the guy who had swallowed countless deaths and despair would have become.

…Of course, I still wasn’t sure if it was really a coincidence or if I was guided by something.

‘Maybe it’s because I’ve received a lot of help from Chehai and I’m very attached to the kids, but I’m worried about him in many ways. The orphanage that was close to the giant was also completely destroyed.’

Right after finally defeating the giant.

The warrior party made many efforts to resolve the situation, but the reality was not so simple.

When the bastard invaded the village, Isea took care of those who remained in the danger zone and evacuated them as much as possible, but before she could do anything, there were many who were sacrificed.

Residents mourning the death of a loved one, injured people suffering from wounds sustained during evacuation, and even people sitting on the devastated ground in ruins.

There was literally no total difficulty.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the body of the giant whose core was removed began to break down rapidly and disappeared completely within a few hours, preventing the unfortunate incident of having to clean up hundreds of tons of waste that occupied the center of the village.

All that remains are traces of overwhelming destruction.

While they were taking various follow-up measures, including treating the injured, they left the village with peace of mind after Geos took an active role in supporting the reconstruction of the village and also put pressure on the owner of the land, Baron Legas.

From the baron’s perspective, he had no choice but to pay special attention to the fact that a high-ranking noble as high as a count was offering to help with the restoration of his territory, which he had to take care of anyway.

“ah! I’ve been holding on to you too long. Everyone must be tired. “I’ll take you to a place where you can rest.”

“Now that I think about it, I see. Thank you for caring me. “Saint.”

After chatting with the saint for a while, dinner time was coming to an end, so they decided to talk again tomorrow and left.

“Saint, saint. Well then, let’s go. Let’s go, Heron. “To say hello to the princess.”

“yep! I understand, Master. Have a good night everyone!”

There were now only two days until the meeting started.

It was evening now, so after the night had passed, there was only one day left.

Of course, all the participating countries had arrived at the Great Temple of Roselia, and the Azerion Empire, represented by Princess Riley, was no exception.

“Then I’ll leave too…”

After hearing that a delegation from the Lesk Kingdom had requested to meet with Geos, he headed to where they were.

In fact, he was now a kingdom, a nobleman, and had no regrets, but it was true that it was comfortable to have a title, so it was inevitable.

Above all, as long as he remains a noble of the kingdom, won’t he be able to support Chehai and his family who have gone through hardships?

“Haha! It’s been a while since I’ve been able to taste the meat from Daejinjeon! “Then I’ll just go and check it out before the restaurant closes!”

And as Harley disappeared along with the guide with excited steps, only Heinrich and Riesta were left here, excluding the attendants who were far away.

“Then, Heinrich? Can we have a quick chat in my office? “A good tea just arrived, and it smells really good.”

“Well then, I guess so. But Riesta, is it okay if you don’t rest? “Actually, I wanted to tell you earlier, but you look very tired right now.”

“…Hehehe, there are only two days left until the meeting, so where is the time to rest? “If you don’t want to bother others, it’s not enough to check again and again to make sure there’s nothing wrong.”

For some reason, a gloomy shadow appeared on her face, which had always had a smile on it.

‘what? Then, I’m not just asking you to drink tea now…’

His thoughts continued to that point when he took a step back without realizing it.

Riesta

returned with a bright smile on her face and grabbed his wrist.

“I finished the preparations with the help of others, but this time I felt anxious, perhaps because I had a lot to handle on my own. But how fortunate I am that Heinrich came at that moment!”

The golden eyes of a saintess sparkle with light.

Her grip tightened around my wrist as if she would never let me go.

“Now that I don’t have any free time, I think I need to check again just in case…”

During the first meeting, Heinrich and the saintess divided the work and resolved issues that were difficult to decide right away through discussion.

Of course, it was possible at that time thanks to the help of cardinals and other practitioners.

Even now, I wonder if they have figured out how to fill in the missing parts…

“Will you help me…?”

This overly responsible girl didn’t seem to be filled with spirituality.

“…All right. Anyway, I was planning to check once more regarding security. “It was originally what I was doing.”

How can I just ignore those golden eyes that look up at me like a cat caught in the rain?

She had always tended to secretly rely on Heinrich, who was in a similar position to her, so it was not unusual for her to show this way now.

‘It’s something we tried once during the first meeting, so it won’t take too long just to check again.’

Then, her face widened at his acceptance, and with an even brighter look, she grabbed his arm.

“thank you! As expected, Heinrich, I thought you would say that! Let’s go! Lastly, there are a lot of things to check! Especially this time, since there is a matter for the Kingdom of Thalia, I think there will be quite a troublesome problem…”

Saint Riesta led him to her office, holding his arm tightly with both hands as if she was leading him away.

‘…It’s going to end really soon, right?’

Considering the situation, I felt like I should have asked for coffee, not tea.

***

One day until the holding of the summit.

Although the full-scale meeting had not yet been held, the organizing church, as well as the participating forces, were all busy.

Even though they gathered together due to a crisis, it was rare to have the opportunity to see the continent’s major powers in one place.

High-ranking officials from all walks of life spent their busy days not only collecting information through exchanges but also checking future policies and revising routes.

“Useup—tsk.”

However, in the midst of all this, there were some people who spent their days carefree as if they had nothing to do with such things.

“No matter how much I eat these days, I get full quickly. Is it because of that too?”

It was Harley, a large barbarian warrior who walked the hallways of the Great Temple like a predator.

After having a juicy competition with the chefs of the 3rd Central Restaurant the previous evening to commemorate his first visit in a long time, he had been enjoying gourmet food to various restaurants in Daesinjeon since the morning, as if he were trying to break a seal.

This was possible because there were many restaurants due to the large size, but now, after enjoying a satisfying lunch at the first central restaurant, I was on my way to the training center for a post-meal workout.

‘I guess that means the amount of energy storage has increased. Well, for ‘giantification’, an enormous amount of energy will inevitably be needed.’

“Giantization” acquired after eating the core of the White Giant.

The skill that was embedded in Harley’s body along with the enormous ‘madness’ was, as its name suggests, an intuitive ability to enlarge the body.

Although it is activated more efficiently than forcibly inflating one’s body size with ‘Body Transformation’, the only difference is that it requires a huge amount of energy to use.

‘The same goes for ignoring the law of conservation of mass. ‘I’m still not skilled enough, so the limit is about 7 meters.’

That was the result of secretly going into the mountain in the middle of the night out of curiosity about the skill and trying it out.

Also, I had to hurriedly disable the skill and devour my late-night snack due to the rapidly rising hunger.

Of course, at just 7 meters, it was enough to crush even the ogre, the tyrant of the mountain, but from the perspective of facing the white giant not long ago, it was also an unspiritual size.

‘Well, if my skill level increases in the future, I will be able to improve it further here. Rather, I didn’t expect to run into Patrick there.’

Patrick, the secretary general of the mercenary guild, reunites at a restaurant after a long time.

He was of the same faction as the previous mercenary king, Kanvel, who died in the Immortal King’s attack, and when he was in danger of being overthrown, he approached Harley and made a proposal first.

Would you like to join hands with him and aim for the position of mercenary king?

After that, he only asked for one thing.

He said that he would take care of the rest and build a reputation that everyone in the mercenary guild could recognize.

‘And so far, it’s going smoothly.’

He was active as a warrior’s companion, just like the famous first mercenary king.

Even if he died along the way, the current situation was an achievement that any mercenary could not help but acknowledge.

Perhaps that’s why the expression on Patrick’s face when I just met him was very bright.

As if everything was going smoothly.

‘however.’

He must have been so excited that he first shook Harley’s hand and greeted her politely before leaving.

I couldn’t even imagine what Harley could do with just that.

‘The gap between the body’s muscle mass and actual strength. ‘It’s not that common, is it?’

It may be because of a special ability or magic tool that we don’t know about, so it’s not 100%, but in fact, it should be considered almost certain at this point.

‘There are many people who have reached higher positions than I thought. Well, if you think about it, it’s not that strange.’

In fact, considering the special abilities given from the beginning and the additional corrections that enable rapid growth, that may be natural.

The problem is that in most cases, we either fall behind before we grow beyond a certain level, or we give up on growth and only pursue safety.

‘I’m curious what unique skills you have. Considering that it has turned to the administrative side, isn’t it a combat field? If only I had useful auxiliary abilities like Andrew…’

While Harley was busily walking around with sinister thoughts—.

“Squeak—are you that Harley? “I’ve seen you before, but this is the first time we’ve met face to face like this.”

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice called out to him.

“huh? “What about the old man?”

He has gray hair and colorful tattoos covering his wrinkled face.

An old woman with a slightly bent waist holding a wooden staff with various ornaments hanging from it.

“Ugh, the situation here hasn’t been good so far. “But I’m glad we can talk in person like this this time.”

Morna was the representative great sorcerer of the Southern Chalcos Tribal Federation, the origin of the “Chalcos-style Battle Engraving.”

“So, can you give this old man some time?”

“What business is it, old man? “I’m a little busy right now!”

Although he was grumbling on the outside, he was quickly analyzing his opponent on the inside.

Come to think of it, Patrick, the secretary general of the mercenary guild, was not the only person who recommended Harley to the death squad.

The old woman who was the representative of the tribal alliance was also included.

He only pretends to be a Southern warrior on the outside, but he has never been there and has no familiarity with him.

‘Even so, I was planning to approach the south sooner or later. ‘So you came to me from over there first?’

A coup reportedly broke out in the south, and the representative of Chalcos is now calmly standing in front of him.

Could it be that there is some trap in this approach?…

“Aren’t you interested in ‘Tuwang’s engraving’?”

…I wanted to, but I didn’t think it would matter if I just listened to the story.

There is no harm in having a short conversation, and even if the other person is planning something, you will be able to get additional information from him!

‘I feel some kind of déjà vu.’

Didn’t Patrick, whom I met a little while ago, also approach it this way at first?

From the mercenary king to the engraving of the fighting king.

Those who approached him with intent were captivating him with sweet offers one after another.

“oh! Have you ever heard of that? “I heard that the effect is really amazing?”

But the manly Harley didn’t care about any of that and quickly took the bait.

With a bright smile that exposes teeth that would make even the weak-hearted go numb just by meeting them.

‘You said that was the end point of the imprinting tech tree, right?’

It was true that the imprint had not been able to show a significant presence these days due to the excessive use of external power under the pretext of being a Yongin.

In addition, I wasn’t able to fully master the “Giantization” I had just acquired, but…

‘In the first place, the more abilities you can use, the better! This isn’t an opportunity that comes easily.’

Originally, human greed had no end.

#201